Wall St higher after Fed statement

Stocks rose on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held benchmark rates near zero and renewed its pledge to keep them exceptionally low for an extended period.

The central bank also pointed to increased momentum in the economy's recovery, indicating it may be moving closer to dropping its promise to keep borrowing costs near zero and rate hikes could be on the horizon.

The market was excited that they didn't change language this time, said Burt White, managing director and chief investment officer of LPL Financial in Boston.

This is exactly what the market was hoping for, White said, noting that what Wall Street wanted -- and got -- was for the Fed to kick the can down the road, and wait for another day.

Earlier in the session, stocks moved higher after Standard & Poor's ended its review for a downgrade of Greece, saying the government's recent deficit-reduction measures are supportive of the ratings. Concerns about Greek debt have been a drag on equities in recent weeks.

Intel was among the Dow's top performers, up 3.6 percent at $21.93 after it released its newest server chips, in expectation of a rise in demand. The Philadelphia semiconductor index gained 2.4 percent.

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